English - AP English Lang. & Comp. Terms

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

using something / someone to represent / symbolize something usually dealing with moral truth or a generalization about human existence

Question 2

anaphora

Answer 2

repetition of words in the beginning of a sentence

Question 3

antecedent

Answer 3

the word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun

Question 4

antimetabole

Answer 4

repetition of words in an inverted order to sharpen contrast

ex. “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”

Question 5

apostrophe

Answer 5

figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love

Question 6

asyndeton

Answer 6

leaving out conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses (ex. eggs, milk, bread, jelly, etc.)

Question 7

clause

Answer 7

a grammatical unit that contains both a subject and a verb

Question 8

colloquial / colloquialism

Answer 8

the use of slang or informalities in speech or writing

Question 9

connotation

Answer 9

non-literal associative meaning of a word; implied, or suggested meaning

Question 10

denotation

Answer 10

the strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color

Question 11

euphemism

Answer 11

more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept

Question 12

verbal irony

Answer 12

when the words literally mean the opposite of the writer’s meaning

Question 13

situational irony

Answer 13

when events turn out the opposite of what was expected

Question 14

dramatic irony

Answer 14

when facts are unknown to a character in a play or piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or other characters in the work

Question 15

litotes

Answer 15

form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite (opposite of hyperbole)

Ex. It isnt very serious, it’s just a little tumor on the brain

Question 16

metonymy

Answer 16

substituted name for another that is closely associated with the original subject

Question 17

onomatopoeia

Answer 17

sounds

ex. harrumph, boom, pow, etc.

Question 18

parallelism

Answer 18

involves a repetition of grammatical elements such as a preposition or verbal phrase

Question 19

periodic sentence

Answer 19

presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end of the sentence

Question 20

loose sentence

Answer 20

presents its central meaning in a main clause at the beginning of a sentence

Question 21

polysyndeton

Answer 21

the deliberate use of a series of conjunctions

ex. get the eggs and milk and butter and jelly.

Question 22

subordinate clause (3)

Answer 22

contains a subject and a verb

cannot stand alone, doesn’t express a complete thought

dependent clause

Question 23

synecdoche

Answer 23

a part of something that represents something that is used to represent the whole, or, occasionally, the whole is used to represent a part

Question 24

synesthesia

Answer 24

when one kind of sensory stimulus evokes the subjunctive experience of another

(when a sense is used in a piece of writing that has an effect…?)

Question 25

syntax

Answer 25

how the author joins words together

Question 26

Aphorism

Answer 26

A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle

Can be a memorable summation of the author’s point

Question 26

zeugma

Answer 26

a construction in which on word (usually a verb) modifies or governs - often in different, sometimes incongruent way - two or more words in a sentence

Ex. John lost his coat and his temper